John here's your April Ocean Activist newsletter
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Hey John,
Thanks for hanging around, it's great to have you here. Here's what we've got going on.
📢 We've launched our petition and it's a BIG one. This time we're going in on water companies and the MASSIVE bonuses that their bosses get. Why should water companies rake in the cash whilst plundering our environment? We've broken down the info by water company so you can see the stats for your area. Check it out here and share our petition to help us reach our target. 🙌
To give you an idea, the CEO of Wessex Water took home a bonus of almost £700,000 in 2022. Grim.
What else?
💩 2022 EDM data release reveals the shocking figures on last year's sewage pollution. Our waterways pillaged in plain sight.
🌊Our Ocean Activist Conference took place recently in Swansea. Reps and leads gathered from across the UK to plan for the year, learn, and share ideas.
🔴We're frustrated with DEFRA's shoddy response to refused designated bathing water applications.
Read on below...
Why are we launching a petition? Put simply, water companies are siphoning cash (which comes from the bills you pay) into shareholder pockets, and NOT into improving our crumbling infrastructure. It's disgusting and it should be regulated. We've made change happen before and we can do it again.
If this makes you mad too John – click below to sign. 👇👇👇
💩 EDM data reveals 2022's shocking sewage figures 💩
Unfortunately, we're not talking about electronic dance music. This EDM, meaning Event Duration Monitoring, shows the frequency and duration of sewage discharges by English water companies from the 2022 bathing season.
So, what's so important about this data? Well, it's different to the stats we get for our Safer Seas and Rivers Service app. It's shiny new data that shows us the not so shiny sewage record for the UK, and it's grim.
Last year, 301,091 sewage spills were reported discharging in England, 14,008 in Scotland and 74,066 in Wales. 🤮 Across all three, sewage discharged for an eyewatering 2.4 million hours. Our Projects Officer, Annie, shares the details in our blog, here.
Failed bathing water applications – what's the deal DEFRA?
We're supporting communities to apply for designated bathing waters, because this means more water quality testing, and more testing means we can hold polluters to account.
The government have said they want to see more sites designated, but what's been put in place to facilitate this? Who knows! With no clear benchmarks or guidelines, our communities submitted thorough applications and most have been blindly declined.
By not telling us the requirements, they've left us in the dark. It's sketchy and it's not good enough.
Check out the ENDS Report's take on it here.
🌿 It was a great weekend with fundraisers hiking to save the ocean with the Big Green Hike! If you didn't get a chance this time - why not try some Easter fundraising? From sponsored spring dips, to an Easter egg hunt - we can’t wait to see your fundraising ideas. Click here for more inspiration.
Our Ocean Activist Conference took place in Swansea in February. We were stoked to be able to spend time with our incredible reps and community leads. So many passionate ocean-lovers in one room!
So, here's a round of applause for our grassroots volunteers that help us share the thriving ocean, thriving people, message nationwide (all the way from the Hebrides to the Isle of Wight). ✊
For the ocean,
🌊 Jade, Communications Officer
